A state prosecutor has cleared a Federal Heights police officer of criminal charges in the January shooting death of a robbery suspect.

Seventeenth Judicial District Attorney Dave Young concluded in his legal analysis that Officer Rick Lahr had reason to believe the suspect was a threat to Lahr and others. Young on Monday released his legal analysis of the shooting, saying it was unlikely a jury would believe Lahr did not act in self-defense.

The suspect, Pierree Davis, had robbed two Family Dollar stores just before closing Jan. 26, the report said. In both robberies, Young’s report said, he pointed a handgun at store employees and threatened to shoot them if they did not give him cash.

Lahr arrived on the scene in the middle of the second robbery and waited for backup outside the store with an AR-15 rifle. When Davis fled the store, Lahr ordered the suspect to stop, he told investigators.

Instead, Davis kept running around the corner of the store and Lahr fired several shots. Davis was hit by those shots, fell then stood with his hands up.

Lahr then fired a second time, hitting Davis in the right side of his body. Davis later died at Denver Health Medical Center from multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators found Davis’ weapon about 10 yards from where he was lying on the ground.

Lahr, who remains on duty at the Federal Heights Police Department, did not receive any internal disciplinary action related to the shooting, said Lt. Gary Toldness, a department spokesman. Lahr received mandatory counseling and was cleared by a department psychologist to return to duty.

Noelle Phillips is a Nashville native and a Western Kentucky University j-school grad who has spent more than 20 years in the newspaper world. During that time, she's covered everything from rural towns in the Southeast to combat in the Middle East. The Denver Post is her fifth newspaper and her first in the Wild West.

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